


Snow-Capped Pine Trees

by The_Scent_Of_Rain



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/F, Family Angst, Family Fluff, M/M, Mild Blood, No Sex, One-Sided Attraction, Some horror later on because Bill is an ass, The triplets are sixteen y/o, Triplet AU, mild violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-25
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-04-06 02:14:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4204077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Scent_Of_Rain/pseuds/The_Scent_Of_Rain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(((  DISCONTINUED - I'm very sorry :(   )))</p><p>Its December back in the Pine's home town, and the kids are off for Christmas break. They've got a lot of big things planned, doing everything from gift shopping and sledding to making Christmas cookies and goofing off. But things get a little complicated when a certain blonde won't stop following the three around, and for some reason, he seems to work absolutely everywhere now. How and why? Who cares. They just want him gone, and to stop messing with their brother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Triplets

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter just introduces Tyrone into the story, and explains how he fits in with the twins in this AU. I hope you don't mind. Feel free to skip it if you'd really like to, although you might be a little confused at some points later on.

Christmas was only a few weeks away, and the town had recently been preparing head to toe for the holidays.

A decent amount of snow had piled up over the past few days, and parents had practically scrambled outside to get their Christmas lights up before any more of the cold could take over. Small shops, big stores, and neighborhood houses glowed with multicolored lights, and decorations of reds, greens, whites and golds hung on the walls and doors of homes and establishments. Stores were heavily stocked with merchandise for the season, and bakeries began to sell their holiday related goods to warm up the people who wandered inside. Snowmen were on the corners of practically every block, created and brought to life by the neighborhood children who went to work the second they had enough snow to construct a snowball with. Along with decorations and preparations, winter clothes were dug up and put into use as soon as the first snowfall had hit the town. The snow had just recently come and piled, so luckily enough, the town's people hadn't grown sick of it yet, and had near no complaints about it. They were actually fairly excited to have snow this early into the holiday season, which only brightened everyone's holidays spirits, and improved their overall mood.

It was late, and most people were snuggled up in there homes to fight off the cold at the moment, including the Pines kids. Although, they weren't exactly fighting off the cold, more-so, eachother.

"Mabel! I don't want to watch your dumb fashion show! Ghost Harassers comes on in three minutes, and I had the remote first!" Dipper argued, his hands tightly wrapped around the tv remote, in which Mabel was pulling at, trying to take for herself.

"Dipper! They're going over Winter J-pop fashion trends on my show today! I _can't_ miss out on that! So hand it _over_!" Mabel fought back, attempting to pry her brother's fingers off the piece of plastic.

"You can _record_ your show, Mabel!"

"No! _You_  record _your_ show!"

Tyrone sat on the couch and watched as the two bickered. They usually got into small arguments over things like this, and Tyrone found it both annoying and hilarious.

Tyrone appeared to be an exact replica of Dipper, minus the blue-white baseball cap, constellation birthmark, and the rosey nose. Instead, the tips of Tyrone's ears were dark and rosey, just like Mabel's cheeks and Dipper's nose were. Both Dipper and Tyrone's hair were chocolate brown and shaggy in appearance, and they both had a fairly similar style in clothing, despite the fact that Tyrone usually wore much lighter and cheerful colors than Dipper did.

Despite their similar appearances, Dipper and Tyrone's personalities weren't _exactly_ alike.

Tyrone acted like a mix between his siblings, and was known to be socially awkward in public, like Dipper, but silly and colorful at home, like Mabel. He took part in Mabel's silly antics, and he occasionally helped out with Dipper's conspiracies. He was kind-hearted like the two of them, and he loved them both to death.

Sharing similar qualities of both of his siblings, Tyrone was often the mediator in most of their disagreements, such as the one that was going on right now. Which he was planning on putting an end to, but was finding their wrestling match a little too entertaining to stop so abruptly. He wanted to see how far each of them would go, what types of tricks Mabel would pull, and what complicated words Dipper would shout and pretend that he knew.

 

He would tell them both to record their shows, watch them on their own time, and find something everyone would want to watch in the meantime. There was probably some good Christmas specials on right now that they could watch together anyways. Tyrone usually knew how to resolve most of the conflicts that the two had with each other. Not that he didn't get into arguments with either one of them himself, but it was usually pretty rare for Tyrone to get upset with one of them, or vice versa.

He sat and watched with a comfortable smile as his siblings bickered, busying himself with finishing off a bag of chips he had been working on for the past few minutes. Dipper was currently trying to list off some more reasons why he should be able to watch his show, while Mabel went into tricks, trying to tickle Dipper into giving in. Dipper flailed and laughed, trying to push Mabel away with his feet, his hands being occupied by the remote. His hat fell off, landing on it's side before tipping upside down. Tyrone watched it for a moment, the blue and white pine tree hat Dipper got back in Gravity Falls.

Gravity Falls.

The first, most memorable summer that the twins had spent in Gravity Falls, Tyrone wasn't there. Summer school had held him back from being sent off to their Great Uncle's house. However, the two had told Tyrone practically everything about the strange town once they arrived back home. Every exciting adventure, every horrifying monster, every crush, every depressing, happy, and crazy memory that they made, they told him all of it in great detail. Tyrone didn't really believe them at first, believing that they were just making it all up to make him jealous of their school-free summer. However, the overwhelming amount of details, souvenirs and overall emotion in his siblings voices had made him believe otherwise. He trusted them.

Tyrone accompanied the two to Gravity Falls every summer following the first one, the thought of the strange town his siblings described pulling him along and giving him motivation to do well in his homework, and to study throughout the nine months leading up to those adventure-filled future summers. Tyrone managed to earn much more decent grades, earning himself the summer to travel to the state of Oregon with his siblings.

He made his own memories there with his twins. They had their own adventures, met and battled their own monsters, and and had a handful of their own emotional experiences as well. However, Tyrone always felt sort-of misplaced during their summers in Gravity Falls. Sure, he was apart of it all now, he met all the people from the stories, he witnessed the creatures, ate at Greasy's Diner, bonded with Grunkle Stan and Soos and Wendy, but, he could still never shake the feeling that this was Dipper and Mabel's special place. These were their summer adventures, and he wasn't really supposed to be there, because he wasn't there the first summer that started it all.

Of course, he tried not to bring that up very often, and he successfully almost never spoke about it. The one time he did bring it up though, his siblings assured him that he was welcome in Gravity Falls as much as they were, and they went to great lengths to try and make Tyrone feel included in their adventures. Dipper and Mabel sure as heck didn't treat him like he didn't belong there, but Tyrone could see the special connection that the two had to the town that he couldn't seem to grasp or make himself.

Not on their level.

Ever since the two returned from their first summer, they just . . . had a certain connection and closeness with each other that wasn't there before. He spent the whole summer at home doing math problems while his siblings were off on some crazy adventure to determine the fate of the universe. On top of that, Tyrone barely had anyone to spend his time with after he got home from summer school. Whatever friends that Tyrone and the twins had were spending their summers on vacations and sleeping in all day.

On the bright side, Tyrone _did_ get to spend some more time with his parents that summer. They developed their own special little bond, since Tyrone was the only child that the two had to look after that summer. This was something that Dipper and Mabel ended up envying a little later in life, that Tyrone got a whole summer's worth of personal time with their parents. This was rare for the kids, because when parents have three kids, it's a little tough to try and spend a fair amount of personal time with each one of them, but Tyrone got a whole summer's worth of it.

Tyrone was aware of how Dipper and Mabel felt, and Dipper and Mabel were aware of how Tyrone felt. They all accepted the bit of envy each of them held, and the way they all ended up feeling left out of something that was important to them.

Tyrone missed that first summer, and he missed out on the special bond his siblings now held.

But in a way, Dipper and Mabel missed out on that summer too. They missed out on the special bond Tyrone now had with their parents.

That summer really threw them off for a while.

It took some time, and it was slow at first, but it turned out alright. Tyrone got to go to Gravity Falls with the both of them every summer after that. He was a part of things now, and his siblings made sure of that. They had their adventures, and he loved his siblings, so all in all, things worked out the best they possibly could have. He shouldn't, and he tried not to focus on the negatives from missing that first summer.

Dipper and Mabel knew their parents loved them as much as they did Tyrone, and they knew Tyrone felt guilty about getting so much personal time with them. Heck, Tyrone even went as far as pretending to be 'sick' or 'too tired' to be apart of an occasional family game or dinner night. He gave up going out to eat or watching movies with the rest of them so that Dipper and Mabel could have that time to themselves with the parents. How could they be mad at him after he went and did things like _that_ for them?

Overall, everything turned out alright for the three of them.

Tyrone looked back over at Dipper and Mabel, who were now on the floor, wrestling each other over the remote.

"Mabel! Stop it or i'm not gonna-aaA **AH**!!" Dipper screamed as Mabel licked his hand in an attempt to get him to let go of the remote.

"Say I can watch my show! _SAY IT_!" Mabel demanded, her tongue resting on Dipper's knuckles. Dipper's face was a mix of horror and disgust, and he internally debated about which was worse, Mabel's girly tv show, or Mabel's saliva all over his hand. The thought of missing out on his new episode of Ghost Harassers willed him through the grossness of his situation.

He would wash his hand after he won.

He held a firm grip on the tv remote and looked over at Tyrone. "Tyrone! Help me!"

Mabel whipped her head around and her long hair went flying, covering up sections of both her's and Dipper's faces. "No! Help _me_!" She shouted, allowing hair to fall into her mouth in the process. " _Phth_! Hair in my mouth!"

"Tell her I had it first!"

"No! - _phth_ \- I can't miss my show i'll - _Phth_ \- die!"

" _Tyrone_!!"

" _Ty_!!"

Tyrone grinned and got up off the couch, preparing to settle the feud between his siblings.

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah. Everything turned out alright.


	2. Paper Snowflakes and Plastic Grocery Bags

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really quickly, I've heard some people say that the Pines family might be Jewish, but i'm not 100% if that's cannon or not. Since this is a fanfic, and this whole thing isn't cannon either, I've made this just a traditional Christmas instead of Hanukkah. I'm really sorry to everyone who prefers the twins being Jewish / knows for sure that they are.

"Lets get the ones that have pictures on them." Dipper suggested, taking out the colorful box of sugar cookie dough from the freezer. The box showed images of small, flattened balls of cookie dough, each with a perfect picture of a little, bright green Christmas tree placed in the center of it.

"What!? Why would you want _those_ things?" Mabel asked in disgust, currently seated inside of the metal shopping cart that Tyrone was resting his elbow on, propping up his head with his hand. He stood and listened to the two conversate with an amused smile.

"You have to make _homemade_ cookies on Christmas! And use those old metal-shape-things!"

"Cookie cutters." Dipper stated. "And why would we go through all the trouble of making and decorating our own cookies when these are already decorated for us!?" Dipper argued, holding up the box for Mabel and Tyrone to see. "These already have a Christmas tree on them! All we have to do is bake them!"

"But that's the whole point, Dipper! Your _supposed_ to go all out decorating Christmas cookies! Only adults and stupid, dumb, poopy heads take the _pre-decorated_ way out."

"Mabel-"

" ** _Poopy heads_**!" Mabel shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Dipper and earning herself a weirded-out look or two from other shoppers in the nearby isles.

"Forget about it, Mabel, he's just being stubborn because he knows your cookies always turn out best." Tyrone stated with a small grin, earning himself a laugh from his sister, and an annoyed glare from his brother.

"Haha, yeah, very funny. Now come on guys, these taste awesome anyways! Mabel, we even get to roll them in sug- guys!?" Dipper shouted, watching as Tyrone began to push the cart down the isle, Mabel raising her fists in the air and chanting "Home-made! Home-made! Home-made!" as they disappeared into the baking isle. Dipper groaned and stuffed the box back into the freezer, running off to catch up with his siblings. "Guys! Are you _kidding_ me!?" He shouted as he ran behind them.

When he caught up, their cart was already cluttered with baking supplies: flour, salt, sugar, etc. Tyrone was looking through the shelves, grabbing for the boxes of baking soda and baking powder, while Mabel was sitting up inside the cart, trying to lean forward enough to reach the tubes of red and green frosting, set out specifically for the holiday season.

And now that Dipper noticed it, the store itself was decorated fairly festive for the season as well. The kitchen ware they passed by earlier had been set out accordingly to their red, green and blue colors. The isles that contained the candy were now stuffed full of Santa shaped chocolates, green and red wrapped Hershey's kisses, and bags full of mini candy canes. Stockings were for sale at the end of many of the isles, and multiple cardboard pictures of snowmen and reindeer hung from the ceiling, a large, red bow accompanying many of them.

Dipper shook off his wandering thoughts and made his way over to Mabel, grabbing the packs of frosting for her and setting them down in the cart. "Mabel, be careful! You're going to tip the cart over like that." Dipper stated protectively. He didn't want the cart to tip and for Mabel to get hurt.

Mabel took her seat back in the cart as Dipper requested, and Tyrone made his way back over to the two of them, setting the boxes of baking goods next to Mabel.

The three of them made their way around the store, grabbing the remaining ingredients that they needed along the way, such as vanilla, eggs, and at least four different bottles of sprinkles, as per Mabel's request.

"Alright, I think that's everything we need for our _homemade_ cookies." Tyrone stated confidently, smiling as he looked over the ingredients in the cart, missing the pouting, unamused glare that Dipper was giving him.

The siblings made their way to the check-out counters, and Tyrone leisurely pushed the cart forward, stopping to pick out the check-out line that appeared the shortest. Luckily, there was a line in the middle that seemed to only have one or two people waiting for service in it. Tyrone pushed the cart forward and took his place in the line, Dipper following close behind, and Mabel was still hitching a ride inside of the cart.

Dipper let his mind wander again as they waited their turn, taking note of the Christmas decor that had been placed near the counters. All the available movies that were usually for sale had been replaced with the Christmas specials. Above the lines they waited in, multiple paper snowflakes hung from the ceiling, most of them being hung at different lengths than the ones that were placed next to them. The candy available had been changed as well. All of the usual classics now contained a photo of some Christmas character or scene on the packaging. Dipper noticed Mabel staring at the candy, and he grabbed a pack of Starbursts for her, tossing it into the cart. Mabel beamed and thanked him, turning around in the cart to grab the bright package.

Dipper smiled at his sister and continued to observe his surroundings, looking to see if any of the employees were wearing anything silly for the holidays. Only one or two of them had on something along the lines of a Santa hat though. Bummer.

There was, however, something a little _off_ about the cashier at work in their line. The man was tall, like, nearing 6 feet tall, and was unusually lanky in appearance. He had light, platinum blonde hair and wore a yellow-colored store t-shirt, white pants, and gold dress shoes. His chin was specked with blonde stubble, and he wore an unusually off-putting smile on his face. A black eyepatch, with a gold outline of an eye on it, covered up one of his eyes, and a black, oval shaped name tag decorated his upper left chest.

Dipper wondered if he could reach up and touch the paper snowflakes at his height.

The cashier looked like he was chatting it up pretty well with the customer ahead of them, but once he was done scanning and bagging their items, he waved the customer goodbye, and attended to the next one in line.

Dipper had been told not to judge people by first appearances, but experiences in Gravity Falls taught him to be suspicious and wary about anyone and anything, and this guy just seemed . . . he didn't exactly know how to describe it. Wrong? Out of place? Familiar? Something along those lines.

When it was the triplet's turn, Tyrone pushed the cart up into place, and Mabel began to pass him the groceries from inside the cart.

The cashier's eye seemed to light up at the sight of the three, and a smile wider than the previous spread across his face as he greeted them. " _Goood_ afternoon! How are you all doing today?"

Tyrone murmured out a soft "Alright, thank you." to the man, seeming to avoid eye contact with him as he piled up the groceries onto the rolling belt.

Dipper took a quick look at his siblings, who both seemed to have been thinking similar thoughts to himself. Mabel usually struck up a conversation with employees, _especially_ with good looking ones such as this man (at least, before she began dating Pacifica), but she was being unusually silent, and even shot a quick glance back at Dipper, confirming that she felt like something was off as well.

Tyrone busied himself with loading up the belt with their cookie supplies, and searching through his pocket for the money their parents had given them for the trip. "You guys baking a cake or something?" The cashier asked, sounding curious and cheerful.

"Cookies, actually." Dipper replied, watching as he scanned and bagged the bottles of sprinkles.

"Huh, that's funny, you seem more like the _pre-decorated_ cookie type, Pine Tree." Dipper opened his mouth to respond, but found himself dumbstruck at hearing the nickname the man had called him by.

The cashier's grin grew a little wider.

"Bill!?" Mabel asked in disbelief, taking in the appearance of his new human body in awe.

"That's my name!" Bill said gleefully, stretching out his shirt in order to show off the nametag pinned onto it.

"But, you look so . . . not _triangle_ shaped!" Mabel spoke in wonder, reaching out to touch Bill's arm and test if his body was real. Tyrone moved her hand out of the way before she could.

"I'm glad you like it, Shooting Star! It took an awful lot of magic and dead animals make!" Tyrone didn't need to stop Mabel again after that. Whatever curiosity she had left about Bill's new body had just flown clear out the window.

"Aw, don't make that face, Shooting Star! I didn't kill them! I just _found_ the bodies and sacrificed 'em! Sorta like mashing 'em together to form this good look'n thing!"

Mabel didn't seem to care about Bill's explanation in the slightest, and plugged her ears as he mentioned the bodies again.

"Bill, what are you _doing_ here!? Why aren't you back in Gravity Falls!? How are you even _able_ to leave? You've never done that before!" Dipper asked in a mix of shock and growing concern. Bill turned around to face him, seemingly delighted that Dipper chose to speak up next. Despite his delight, though, he responded in his usual tone.

"Kid, I have a _lot_ of business to take care of, and things that I need to do personally. Some of those things aren't exactly going to get done back in Gravity Falls." Bill explained, "And just because you've never seen me outside Gravity Falls doesn't mean i've never left the place. Come on kid, I thought you were smarter than that! Think outside the box here! Use that pretty little head of yours!"

Dipper looked at Bill in newfound surprise, and Bill spoke up again before he could ask another question.

"But I appreciate you coming here and visiting me while i'm working! Seeing your lovely face might have just made my whole day!" Bill complimented, smiling ear to ear at Dipper, who just stared back at Bill with a puzzled expression. Tyrone and Mabel looked at eachother, then back at Bill.

"So . . . if you have 'business' to do outside of Gravity Falls, then what are you doing working _here_?" Tyrone asked, earning himself an annoyed look from Bill, who seemed to be peeved at Tyrone just for speaking up.

"It's part of the business i've gotta take care of, kid. Yeesh, get off my back, will yeah?" Bill replied defensively. Tyrone was caught off guard at Bill's sudden hostility towards him, and refrained himself from speaking up again about the issue. Mabel frowned, reaching over the side of the cart to grab the bagged up groceries, setting them back inside the cart with her. " _Yyeeaaah_ , well, we've gotta get going now, _Bill_." She said cautiously, avoiding getting snapped at as well. She roughly nudged Tyrone's arm with her elbow, reminding him to pay Bill.

Tyrone shook his head, getting his thoughts straight and setting the money on the counter according to the amount shown on the register. He stuffed a left over dollar or two back into his pocket as he spoke up again. "Er, keep the change. We don't need a receipt." Tyrone stated, and with that, he began to push the cart out of the line, away from Bill, and to the front of the store.

Dipper quickly followed in suit, not too fond of the idea of hanging around Bill for too much longer. Bill grabbed Dipper by the back of his shirt, tugging him backwards before he could advance towards his siblings. "Hold up, kid."

Dipper turned his head around to look at Bill, who responded by releasing his grip on Dipper's shirt, now that he had his attention. Bill held out one of the miniature candy canes that the store was selling, offering it to Dipper with a grin.

"As you humans say it, ' _Happy Holidays_ ', Pine Tree." He spoke smoothly. Dipper offered back an awkward and confused expression, gingerly taking the candy cane from Bill's hand, his eyebrows slightly scrunching up at the sight of it, unsure of what to make of the gesture.

"Um. . . thanks, I guess." He replied, stuffing the candy into his pant's pocket and taking off after his siblings, who were both waiting for him near the exit, sharing the same confused expression on their faces.

"What did he just give you?" Tyrone asked, staring down at Dipper's pocket.

"Its the weirdest thing, guys, Bill just gave me this and wished me a 'Happy Holiday' or something." Dipper replied, pulling out the candy and revealing it to his siblings.

"Did he say anything else to you?" Mabel asked, staring down at the plastic sealed candy in surprise.

"No, just to have a happy holiday. That's it." Dipper replied, seemingly thrown off about the whole situation that had just taken place.

"I think it might be best to just throw it away. We can't trust anything that guy does." Tyrone stated, his face brightly highlighted in concern. For all they knew, the candy was poisonous or charmed or had something bad done to it.

"Yeah, and apparently he's ' _working_ ' here now? I don't believe that bologna for a minute!" Mabel stated, glaring back at the rows of check-outs underneath the paper snowfall.

"Yeah, me either." Dipper agreed. And with that, he dropped the candy cane into a trash can, and the siblings made their way outside with their groceries.

 

 

 

~ ~ ~

 

 

The kid's made their way home without any trouble. They talked little of Bill and his possible future plans during the car ride, and eventually changed their conversation to a lighter subject. They made their way home, Tyrone returned the change to his parents, and Dipper and Mabel put away the groceries. They would make the cookies later, they agreed in the car, Bill's sudden appearance having thrown them all a little off. Something that hadn't gone unnoticed by their mother.

"Are you kids okay?" She asked them, getting a simple nod and half-hearted 'mhm's from Dipper and Mabel, whose eye were glued to the tv screen.

"Yeah mom, everythings fine." Tyrone replied, looking up from the tv to give his attention to her.

"Are you sure? You seem a little . . . quiet, since you came back from the store." Their mother stated in gently. She spoke in such a soft tone, as if she believed that her children would break if she spoke to them too harshly. The three of them knew that once she began worrying about any of them, she didn't lighten up until she knew what was the matter.

"Were okay, really mom. We just ran into someone at the store." Dipper explained, joining Tyrone by turning his attention away from the tv.

"Someone from school?" Their mother asked, her tone suddenly becoming edged with a gentle seriousness. "No, no! No one from school, mom. Really, everythings fine." Tyrone soothed, trying to convince his mom otherwise. He wished that he could honestly tell her that they bumped into a friend, or at least someone who was friendly, but that definitely wasn't the case. Although, Bill seemed to be acting somewhat friendly, at least to Dipper and Mabel he thought. What the hell made Bill snap at him like that?

"Positive?" She asked.

"Positive." Tyrone replied, giving his mom a soft smile. She smiled back and nodded, giving them a small "Okay" before making her way back into the kitchen, preparing to get their dinner started.

A few minutes passed by before their mom spoke up again, raising her voice so the kids could hear her from the kitchen.

"You know, me and your dad were thinking about going sledding tonight, if you three were interested." She mused. Mabel's eyes lit up at this, and she sat up taller in her seat.

"Really!? Were going sledding tonight!?" She yelled back in excitement.

"Only if you three are up to it." Mabel looked back at her brothers expectantly.

"Guys?" They were both honestly just as excited with the idea as Mabel seemed to be, but even if they weren't, it would probably be too difficult for them to turn it down when Mabel was looking at them like that.

"Sure, i'm up for it." Dipper responded gladly.

"I _definitely_ wanna go." Tyrone agreed excitedly. Mabel let out a victorious "Yes!" and their mom agreed that the matter was settled. The family would head out sledding that night, sometime after dinner when everyone was ready.


	3. Sledding, Chains and Uncertainty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this chapter is so short. I promise the next one is a lot longer.

As promised, the children were taken sledding later that night. The sun was beginning to set, and the street lights popped to life and illuminated the shadowy streets with spots of orange and white light.

The car was parked out in the parking lot, and the family made their way inside the building to rent their sleds. The building was rather plain, being painted as white on the outside as it was on the inside. Being surrounded by the piled up snow, it was a bit of a surprise that they could spot the building from the road at all.

Picnic tables were littered outside at the edges of the slope, more than likely placed there for parents to keep an eye on their children, and drink the hot coffee and other refreshments that were being served inside. However, the Pine's parents more than likely wouldn't be using those tables, since they decided to go ahead and rent a sled for themselves. Only one, though. It saved just a little money, and they didn't mind sharing. "It'll make us go really fast with both our weights on it." Their dad explained. Their mom glared at him.

They made their way over to the hill, which was currently lit up by tall light posts due to the fading afternoon sunlight. It wasn't very busy, but there were about two or three families there, and a few individual groups of friends. The parents allowed their children to go find a space of their own to sled on, and chose to talk and watch their kids for a little while before heading down as well.

The kids found their own space on the hilltop, and standing at the top of it, in all honesty, felt pretty incredible. Sure, it was no mountin or anything, but it was a fairly impressive height, and the freezing wind and slick, glitter-like snow made them feel as if they were on top of some great monument. The three stood there for a moment to enjoy themselves before smiling at eachother, preparing to head down. They tightened their scarves and pulled down their hats to cover their ears in preparation for their icey rides.

They raced, they fell off their sleds, they knocked a kid off his on accident (who, in some sort of miracle, started laughing instead of crying), they threw snow at each other and they lost their hats in the freezing wind a couple times. It was fantastic.

The parts of their faces that seemed to blush naturally had now taken on new shades of red. The cold was getting to them, but they didn't seem to notice it too much.

Well, they did, but they tried to ignore the bitter cold on their skin and have fun while they were there.

Dipper and Mabel grabbed their sleds and prepared for another round down the hill, until Tyrone spoke up.

"Wait, hold on a sec!" Dipper and Mabel looked back at him curiously. "What's up?" Dipper said.

"What's the problem bro-bro?" Mabel followed in reply.

"I wanna try something guys." Tyrone said, beaming an excited smile at his look-alikes.

"Like what?" Dipper asked curiously, an eyebrow cocked up.

"A human chain!"

"A what?"

"It's where we all lock arms together as we go down the hill! I saw it on some YouTube video a while ago. It's supposed to make you go super fast!"

"What? But wouldn't we-" Dipper started, but was cut off by Mabel's squeal of excitement. She was bouncing up and down with her mitten covered hands balled up into fists at her chest. Her soft brown hair bobbing along and draping over her shoulders.

"Oh my gosh oh my gosh of my gosh! That's a great idea! Dipper! We have to do that!" Tyrone looked at Dipper, beaming a smile of excitement that matched Mabel's. "Wanna try it, Dipper?"

Dipper looked at Tyrone, then back over at Mabel, who was still bouncing, only now with her attention focused on Dipper. Dipper sighed and crossed his arms, muttering a soft "fine" to his excited siblings, a breath of white fog seeping through his lips at the moment he did so. Despite the doubts he had about the idea, it was too tough to disagree with his siblings and let them down when they looked at him that expectantly. Their bright and excited faces were just too much to turn down.

"Awesome!" Tyrone said giddily, grabbing the rope handle of his sled and dragging it back up to the top. Dipper and Mabel followed in suit of his actions, and soon enough, all three of them were on their sleds, lined up vertically with their arms linked, staring down at the slick, icy slope that awaited them. Mabel seated herself at the front of the chain, Tyrone at the end, and finally, Dipper sat in the middle of the two, both of his arms occupied by his twins, and in all honesty, it made him feel a little nervous that he wasn't able to hold onto his rope handle like the other two. He felt his arms squeeze tightly around Tyrone and Mabel's, who squeezed back in reply.

"You guys ready?" Tyrone asked, looking ahead at the two of them, who both nodded in return. An extra thumbs up thrown in by Mabel.

"Alright! Three . . . !" Tyrone started.

"Two . . . " Dipper followed, his voice edged with uncertainty.

"One!" Mabel yelled, and with a little push, they slipped and sky-rocketed down the icy slope

 

.  .  .  .  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_**CRASH!!!** _


	4. Ice Packs and Bloody Kisses

Dipper wasn't sure what he felt more of, anger, embarrassment or stinging pain.

After the kids accidentally knocked that kid off his sled, they decided to move themselves closer to the edge of the hill to avoid hitting anyone else, and with that action, they moved themselves closer to the wooden tables.

Well, apparently they had moved a little too close to the edge, because after their chain slipped down the hill, it flipped and ended up going horizontally. Unable to be steered in a certain direction now, they ended up heading straight for one of the wooden tables.

Tyrone started freaking out, repeatedly cursing an " _OH SHIT_ " before unlinking his arm from Dipper's, swerving his sled to the side to avoid it. Dipper could recall Mabel yelling something about Tyrone being either a wuss or a traitor, he couldn't remember which one it was. However, he could remember feeling Mabel's arm yank away from his not long after that. She yelled an apology into the wind and jumped completely off of her sled at the last second, barrel rolling out of range of the table. Dipper, having been stuck in the middle of the two, didn't have enough time to swerve out of the way like the others. He crashed into the table, painfully smashing his mouth on the seat.

So now, he sat at a booth in a burger joint, an ice-pack pressed up against his purple and bloody upper lip, and thanking God he didn't end up losing any teeth. Though, maybe it would've been better if he did. His teeth hurt like hell right now, and part of his gum had gotten cut in the crash. Maybe it wouldn't hurt as bad if a tooth or two had gotten lost in the process.

" _Heeey_ bro-bro, how ya' feeling?" Mabel asked, trying to act as positive as possible.

"Are you doin' okay, Dip? Has the swelling gone down at at all?" Tyrone asked, concern lacing his voice.

Both of them were feeling extremely guilty about abandoning Dipper. They apologized like crazy as blood was soaking into his gloves. They made him a makeshift ice-pack out of the snow and Tyrone's hat, and led him over to their mom and dad. Both of the parents were pretty worried, and immediately took Dipper inside the building to get him cleaned up. They cleaned up the blood with some napkins from the counter selling drinks, and were thankfully given a real ice-pack to put on Dipper's swollen lip. Dipper tried to apologize for Tyrone's bloody hat, but he and Mabel wouldn't have any of it.

Everyone was too busy obsessing over Dipper to take notice of the bright, yellow-jacket wearing man who handed them the proper ice. Their parents blindly gave him their gratitude and immediately went to apply the ice to their son's lip.

Bill watched as the four of them fussed over Dipper's injury, and once he realized that he would get no further attention from them, he bitterly returned behind the counter to continue serving the other sledders their hot chocolates and coffees. He kept his eye glued intensely onto Dipper during each stupid purchase another human made.

The whole situation pissed him off.

It was only the second time he got to see Pine Tree out in public and things were _not_ going how he wanted them to. The kid wasn't supposed to smash his teeth into a table, and the kid sure as hell wasn't supposed to be oblivious to his presence in this bland, underwhelming place.

 ** _No_**.

Pine Tree was supposed to come in here _without_ his parents and _without_ a bloody mouth to order a damned drink so that he would get a chance to talk to him again. Instead, Dipper had absolutely no idea he was there. Just like when Bill was in the Mindscape.

He had no. Idea. He was fucking. _There_.

Hell, besides Shooting Star's pink, puffy jacket, he was the brightest thing in this damned place! It should be obvious even if he didn't come in here for a _chocolate-whatever_.

He wanted Dipper's attention.

He wanted it **_now_**.

A burning sensation drizzled over his hand and knocked him out of his thoughts. He looked down and realized he popped the cap off a coffee cup in his state of anger. The piping drink was drooling from the top of the paper cup and over his knuckles, and he looked up absently at the concerned face of woman who seemed to be asking if he was alright.

Oh, right. This was her coffee.

Bill waved her off with his free hand, releasing the cup and allowing it to tip over on the counter, creating a dark, sticky puddle that oozed onto the floor. Bill watched as the Pines left the building, and found himself making his way out from behind the counter and to the door.

He heard an employee shout to ask where he was going, and about cleaning the mess that he just created. Bill turned to her and bitterly stated that he was done working for the day. He didn't wait for a response as he made his way out the door and into the freezing weather that pierced his soaking hand.

 

 

 

~ ~ ~

 

 

 

After the whole bloody mess, the parents tried their best at lifting their children's spirits. They promised to take them out for ice cream, and since their dad was feeling a bit hungry again, they decided to go somewhere that had both ice cream and real food. A burger joint was setted on, and the family loaded into the car to head for it.

The car ride was pretty quiet at the beginning, besides the occasional repeated apology from Mabel or Tyrone. Dipper forgave them each time, and told them that they didn't have anything to apologize for. Although, in all honesty, Dipper was still feeling a little peeved about the whole thing. He knew that something was bound to go wrong, and a busted lip sure as heck proved that his doubts were justified. Fortunately though, the three of them managed to reverted back into their goofy and joking selves by the time they got to the restaurant. Everything was fine, but Dipper's lip still hurt, and Mabel and Tyrone were still trying to bite back a bit of guilt.

"It's fine guys, really, you don't have to ask if i'm okay every five minutes." Dipper said, a little laugh edged into in his voice at the end of his reply.

"Yeah, we know, but it's ju-" Tyrone started, but was cut off by the waiter.

"Are you kids ready to order?"

The three froze.

That voice.

That yellow uniform.

 _Oh God_.

There stood Bill in all his glory, blonde hair, eye-patch, and the establishment's required uniform, only Bill's was colored in gold and black, unlike the blue and black that it should've been colored.

Their parents didn't take much interest in Bill, and they ordered their food normally. They didn't know about Bill, heck, they didn't know about any of the weird stuff that happened in Gravity Falls. The triplets had promised their Grunkle Stan to keep it to themselves. No telling friends, no telling their parents. So of course, their parents had no reason to take note of the brightly grinning waiter in front of their table, and ordered their food accordingly to his arrival.

Bill, however, did not write down a single thing the kid's parents had said, despite the tip of his pen being pressed onto the front of his notepad. Bill stood there, looking down at Dipper with his usual gleeful grin. Although, his grin seemed to twitch, or _falter_ , a bit once he caught sight of how bad Dipper's beaten up lip appeared. However, he recomposed himself, and only spoke up once their parents were finished ordering. "Alrighty then, and for the kiddos?" He asked cheerfully, his eyes still locked onto Dipper, who almost tried to glare back at him, but became too uncomfortable and squeamish under his stare, and ended up averting his eyes down to his placemat.

The kids couldn't say anything to Bill. They couldn't ask him what he was doing here, they couldn't ask him what type of 'business' he had to take care of here, and they couldn't yell at him for being here, because they couldn't act strange in front of their mom and dad.

They were stuck.

They sat in silence for a few seconds before Mabel cleared her throat, ordering what she wanted from the dessert menu. Bill, of course, didn't write it down, and Dipper could still feel his gaze burning into the top of his head.

Tyrone followed in suit of Mabel and ordered his food, and then Dipper, and once they were done, Bill lowered his notepad, clicked his pen, and took the family's menus back. Bill's hand intentionally lingered on Dipper's as he took the menu from him. Dipper's face heated up and he yanked his hand away. Bill smirked at him as he set Dipper's menu below of the others. "Coming right up!" He chirped, walking off and disappearing into the back of the restaurant.

The triplets shared looks with each other, each of them unsure of what to do in the situation. It wasn't like Bill had been doing anything horrible since he showed up in town. They'd seen him twice already, and the only thing he seemed to be doing was working. Why? They didn't know. They didn't even know how Bill was capable of getting a job. Probably through some messed up mind manipulation or something?

What they did know is that both times they ran into Bill, he seemed to be interested in Dipper, and that was enough of a reason to worried about him showing up.

Tyrone and Mabel both found themselves staring at Dipper, who stared back at them with an uncomfortable expression. They didn't like how Bill seemed to . . . be _focusing_ on Dipper more than anyone else. Tyrone felt a knot form in his stomach when Bill let his hand linger. He didn't like this guy touching his brother so much. _Not one bit._

The three continued to stare at each other in silence until Dipper set his icepack down, excusing himself to go to the bathroom. The parents okayed it and Dipper gave a quick look to his siblings before heading in the direction Bill went.

Tyrone and Mabel watched as Dipper walked off, sharing a worried look between each other. They both sort of knew that they didn't want to seem suspicious by having all three of them head off to the bathroom at the same time. But, they also didn't want to let Dipper head off to confront Bill by himself. So, Mabel spoke up and told the parents she needed to go to the bathroom too. She looked at Tyrone, silently telling him to stay put. He did so, and Mabel headed off to follow Dipper, leaving Tyrone to talk to the parents, and hopefully distract them from noticing Dipper and Mabel wandering anywhere _but_ the bathroom.

She eventually caught up to Dipper, and put and hand on his shoulder. "Hey, i'm coming with you bro."

Dipper looked back at Mabel in confusion. "What? Mabel, you don-"

Mabel looked at Dipper as seriously as she could muster up. "Dipper, i'm not gonna let you talk to him by yourself! We spent a whole summer fighting him off together! Why can't we do it together now?"

Dipper stared at her for a moment before exhaling, giving her a quick appreciative smile. "You're right, you're right. Let's go see what he's up to." he said, and with that, they headed off into the back of the restaurant.

Luckily, the place seemed busy enough to where the workers didn't take much notice of Dipper or Mabel. If anyone asked, they would just play dumb and say they were looking for the bathroom.

"Did he go into the kitchen?" Dipper asked, Mabel shrugged in reply.

"He must've, he's not at any of the counters or tables." Mabel said.

They headed back into the kitchen, which was a lot warmer than the rest of the restaurant was. Grills sizzled and knifes clanked against the metal counters. The place smelled of beef and grease, but felt fairly cozy and inviting. Well, it would've, if it wasn't for the multiple sweaty and unwelcoming looking people who were focused on cooking the burgers that everyone wanted.

The two didn't get much time to look around before a hand rested itself on each of their shoulders, stopping them in their places.

"Well well well, I don't think you kids should be back here. It's pretty dangerous with all these knifes around!" Bill taunted, causing the two to quickly turn to face him.

"Bill!" Mabel gasped, obviously startled by his appearance. Bill grinned momentarily at her, enjoying the look of surprise he was able to put on her face. However, he turned his head to give his attention over to her twin. "Your lip got pretty busted up there, Pine Tree." Bill stated. Dipper ignored the comment.

"What are you doing here, Bill?" Dipper asked in an angry tone.

"I don't know what you mean!" Bill replied in an annoyingly cheerful way. "I'm just doing my job serving you meatbags your disgusting _dead animal_ food."

"Yeah, but _why_?"

Bill decided to ignore Dipper's question, brushing Mabel to the side so that he could walk past the two of them, heading over to inspect some of the ground beef that was in the process of being cooked. He looked back at the two of them with a grin. "Hey, do you think these grease monkeys would let me slip some deer teeth in this? Your cooking up animal parts anyways, am I right?" He joked, earning a look of disgust from the both of them.

"Please tell me you're not cooking _our_ food." Mabel said, disgusted and almost pleading.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Bill said, although it was difficult to tell if he was using sarcasm or not. They'd have to thoroughly look through their burgers and ice cream once they got them. Dipper shivered at the thought of getting a mouthful of ground beef and deer teeth shards.

"Look, would you just tell us why you're here!? Why aren't you still in Gravity Falls? You've never followed us back to our home town before!" Dipper raised his voice in frustration. The kitchen was getting humid, and it was making him warm and uncomfortable in the jacket he had on. His anger was only aiding in turning his face a little redder than the heat already was.

Bill dropped his grin for a moment, but then replaced it with a calm smile, which almost seemed as unfitting as the ear to ear grins that he usually had on his face. Almost.

"I thought I already told you this back at the store. I've got business to attend to in places other than Gravity Falls." Bill grinned again. "Is all this repetition just an excuse to come back here and see me? If so, i'm incredibly flattered!" He teased.

" ** _Bill_ _!_** " Dipper yelled, demanding himself an appropriate answer.

Bill's grinned dropped once again. He walked up to Dipper in an almost intimidating manner, which caused Dipper take a small step back, and Mabel take a small step closer to her brother.

"Listen. I know you've got this whole school thing going on back in this dingy little town of yours." Bill said, twirling his index finger around at the word 'whole'.

"You three have a limited amount of summers left at Gravity Falls, am I right?" Bill asked. Dipper raised an eyebrow in response. "And?"

" _And_ , i'm not too fond of waiting for the things I want, Pine Tree. I'm not a patient person, so if your visits are going to become more limited, well, I guess i'll have to take matters into my own hands." He stated, showing off the palms of his hands to the twins as some sort of a joke.

"So, you're here just to _visit_ us?" Mabel asked skeptically.

" _Or_ he's here to get our journal." Dipper offered, glaring as he did so.

"Not quite, short stacks."

"Well, whatever it is you want, can you just leave us alone? It's not like we're trying to foil any of your plans like in Gravity Falls, we're not in your way or anything this time!" Dipper argued.

"Yeah, we don't want to see you anymore! So just, go back to Gravity Falls or something, and take your _animal body_ with you!" Mabel demanded, a look of disturbance crossing over her face at the mention of Bill's body.

"Now now, is that any way to talk to the person who's handling your food?" Bill taunted, earning himself a small cringe from the two of them. Images of beef and deer teeth crawled into their minds.

"Fine. Mabel, let's head back." Dipper said, obviously upset that they had gotten nearly nowhere with their confrontation. Mabel nodded her head and complied, and they turned around to head back to their table.

Bill reached out his hands, grabbing ahold of Dipper by the shoulders. Before Mabel or Dipper could react or question him, Bill had spun Dipper around, planting a rough, forceful kiss onto his tender purple lips, earning a semi-muffled cry of pain from the twin, who was held in place by Bill's almost desperate grip.

The moment that Bill latched onto Dipper, Tyrone opened up the door.

It only took him a second to react, pushing Bill away from his brother at full force, sending him back and stumbling to catch his balance. Bill caught himself just in time to watch Tyrone leading Dipper out of the suffocating environment, Dipper covering his mouth with the palm of his hand, trying to stop to the flow of blood from reopened cut.

Mabel didn't know which to react to first, the sudden kiss by Bill, or the sudden appearance of Tyrone.

She looked back at Bill, who seemed to be in a state of extreme confusion. He stood with an awkward stance after being pushed backwards. One hand gripped the counter behind him, and the other covered his mouth, pressing the blood from Dipper's lips onto his hand.

 

_Did Dipper just push him?_

_Or was it the other one?_

_When the heck did **he** come in here?_

_I fucked that up **bad**._

_That was **not** the way I wanted that to go._

_Real smooth there, Cipher._

 

 

His eye glinted with red.

 

 

With that, Mabel decided to leave Bill in favor of following Dipper and Tyrone back to the table. She caught up with them as Tyrone was in the middle of talking.

"-taking a long time, and asked me to check if you were feeling alright."

Mabel followed her brothers as they made their way back to the table, immediately being greeted with shock and worry from their parents, who voiced their concerns with everything from 'Are you alright?' to 'What happened?' and 'Do you need anything?'. Tyrone told them that Dipper was fine, and that he was just messing with his lip in the bathroom, and ended up reopening the cut again on accident.

Their parents made him a make-shift washcloth out of their napkins and glasses of water, cleaning up the sticky red liquid from Dipper's face.

A waitor, different than Bill, walked up to their table in the middle of the matter, announcing that their food had arrived in a cheery tone. Their parents took notice and made room for the food, pushing the bloodied napkins and water aside.

He set their food down accordingly, and asked the parents if they wanted some less bloody water, all the while Tyrone and Mabel looked at each other with equal amounts of concern and surprise over the matter at hand. Dipper was too busy nursing his lip to join in with the two, and his face heated up red with embarrassment at knowing they had just watched him kiss Bill.

What the _fuck_ was going on.

The waiter left to get fresh water, and the family ate their food rather quietly, besides the occasional small conversation that would be brought up by the parents.

Mabel and Dipper didn't eat much of their food, though. Their minds kept playing tricks on them, making them imagine that there were tiny, sharp shards of deer teeth inside of the meat in the burger, and replacing the peanuts in the ice cream. Despite their constant checking and rechecking, there were none.


	5. Sleepovers and Christmas Shopping

Dipper took his place in the driver's seat and started up the car.

His parent's each had their own car, since they both needed to go to their work places at similar times. But since money was as tight as it was, and they had many other expenses to pay for, they bought their three children a single car to share on their 16th birthdays. They were only teenagers, and they didn't have jobs at the moment, so all three of them sharing one car wouldn't be too much trouble for them. They appreciated and were ecstatic about the gift when they received it, and promised that they wouldn't argue too much over who got to use the car and when.

Of course, arguing ensued, but that was to be expected. They all knew that their promise was spawned from appreciation and excitement.

At the moment, Dipper was getting ready to drive Mabel over to a sleepover. She was busy stuffing her bag full make-up, cds, magazines and sugary snacks that she wasn't supposed to be taking from the pantry, but did anyways.

He and Tyrone decided that they would get some Christmas shopping done while Mabel was at her sleepover. They had a gift in mind for her, and this would be a good chance to go get supplies for it while she was away.

Tyrone made his way out into the garage, taking shotgun next to Dipper in the car. Mabel entered a few seconds later, carrying a large bag over her shoulder, a pillow under her arm, and her cell phone in her hand. She piled her things into the backseat before getting in herself. Dipper pulled out of the garage and started the drive over to Mabel's friend's house.

The car ride was pretty quiet. Dipper was focused on driving, Tyrone pre-occupied himself by looking out the window, and Mabel was busy texting on her phone.

" . . . Hey Mabes, who ya texting?" Tyrone asked, glancing at her reflection in the rearview mirror.

"Pacifica." Mabel responded, continuing to type out a rather long message, and letting out a small laugh at the next message she received.

"Is she doing anything special for Christmas?" Dipper asked. Although Pacifica proved herself to be a decent person, he and Pacifica still didn't get along 100%. He didn't really care all too much about what she would be doing for Christmas this year, but Pacifica was important to Mabel, and Dipper tried to make an effort to talk to Mabel about her every once in a while.

"Mmm her family's hosting a big Christmas party again this year." Mabel smiled warmly. "Pacificas gonna send me something in the mail."

"Aw, that's nice." Tyrone gushed, happy to hear that Pacifica was still treating Mabel kindly. After everything the twins told him about Pacifica after their first summer, he couldn't help but feel sort of surprised whenever Pacifica did something nice for his sister.

Mabel and Pacifica had started to take interest in each other during their second summer in Gravity Falls. They exchanged numbers, talked to each other, and occasionally hung out with each other during that summer. Even after summer ended, texting and talking to each other on the phone became a normal thing for them. Things didn't actually start for them until the fourth summer though, when they were 15.

The kid's parents were honestly very, very concerned once Mabel came out to them about her and Pacifica. They took her into their bedroom and had a long, long conversation with her. Dipper and Tyrone, being the concerned brothers that they were, listened through the door for most of the conversation. They could hear a lot of ' _Are you sure?_ 's and ' _Is this how you really feel?_ 's.

It's not that their parents had a problem with their daughter being romantically interested in other girls, but when they were growing up, different sexuallitys weren't as accepted as they are 'now-a-days'. They feared that their daughter might get picked on or bullied for this reason, because in all reality, all three of their kids had gotten a fair share of mild bullying at school. Mabel had been ignored by other girls and gossiped about for her outgoing personality and silly behavior, Dipper had been teased for his birthmark and social awkwardness, and Tyrone had been picked on for his quietness and occasional goofball behavior, which was the reason he tended to only act colorful at home. Their parents were always looking out for their children, trying their best to protect them from mean kids, and looking out for new possibilities that bullies might take advantage of. Mabel having an interest girls was a _big_ red flag for bullying possibilities.

After a long hour of conversation, Mabel had convinced the parents that this was what she wanted to do, and that she would be alright. She would tell them if anything happened to her at school, and if her relationship with Pacifica ever took a turn for the worse. Despite the parent's concerns, they accepted her relationship with Pacifica, and were glad that Mabel had finally gotten the 'summer romance' that she had been looking for the past few years.

Pacifica, on the other hand, had kept her relationship with Mabel a secret from her family. Her parents more than likely would not be so accepting of Pacifica's sexual preference, and would find it a mockery against their 'family name' or something along the lines of that. It was a part of their relationship they had trouble with and were still working on, but they were making it work well despite the few obstacles that they had to work through, such as long distance, going nine months without seeing each other every year, and the up-in-coming thoughts about the future, aka, _college_.

They tried not to focus on these things, and instead focused on being happy with each other while they still could. Although, the fact that they couldn't spend Christmas together, _again_ , had gotten Mabel down in the dumps lately, and Tyrone and Dipper were hoping that this sleepover would lift her spirits.

They dropped Mabel off at her friend's house and made their way to the mall, prepared to do their Christmas shopping.

Once they got inside, Dipper took out a piece of paper from his pocket, unfolding it to reveal the list of supplies that were hoping to pick up today.

"Alright, so we need the art supplies for Mabel's gift, and then we need to pick up mom and dad's gifts while we're here." Dipper stated.

Tyrone glanced around at the shops nearby as Dipper read over the list. "The arts 'n crafts store is pretty close by, wanna grab Mabel's things first?" Tyrone suggested.

_Mabel's gift._

This year, it was going to be special. Every year, Mabel ended up getting art supplies and sweater material from both family members and friends. Mabel used the material to make crafts and clothing for herself and for others. But this year, they weren't buying the supplies for her. They were buying it for themselves. They were going to be the ones to hand make something this year.

They were going to make Mabel a sweater.

Tyrone had watched Mabel create a few sweaters before, and was certain that he and Dipper would be able to pull it off.

Well, they couldn't.

In the slightest.

They did a horrible, _horrible_ job.

They failed numerous times at knitting from scratch like Mabel did, and in the end, they had to give up on their idea of a homemade sweater, and settled on decorating a store-bought sweater instead. It would still technically be handmade if they made and added on the decorations themselves, right?

Their mom agreed to teach them how to sew, and once they had learned how to do a decent job, they felt confident that they could make their sister a great gift.

They stopped inside of the arts store, and agreed to split up to gather the supplies that they needed. Tyrone was on glitter, thread and fake-rhinestone duty, while Dipper was on fabric and _that-gel-stuff-thats-made-for-writing-on-cloths_ duty.

They split into separate isles and began their search. Tyrone was able to find his things pretty easily, but Dipper needed to look down multiple isles for the gel-writing-stuff.

Tyrone debated his glitter options, there were a couple different shades of pink and purple, and he wanted to make sure he got the colors that would look best on the sweater they were going to work on. Tyrone was pulled out of his debating by two arms wrapping around his waist, and a toothy grin on his shoulder that caused his ears to turn a shade darker than they naturally were.

"I'm pretty sure Shooting Star likes that one." Bill said, outstretching one of his arms to point to a certain shade of pink.

Tyrone frantically squirmed out of Bill's grasp, looking back at him with a flushed, beet red face. "Bill?!"

Bill's face seemed to pale at hearing Tyrone's voice, he groaned and ran a hand down his face. "Damn it. You look just like him from behind." Bill said, letting out a sigh and sliding his fingers through Tyrones hair. "I should'da known, you're not wearing his precious little cap." Bill stated, sounding rather disappointed. "Say, while you're here, mind telling me where your brother is?"

"Like hell i'd tell you!" Tyrone spat defensively, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get his face to cool down from it's heated red tone.

"Why do you keep trying to touch him!? It's really, _really_ creepy!"

" _Tsck_ , you won't tell me, I won't tell you." Bill mocked back. "Listen, i'll come back when Pine Tree's around, until then, stop looking so much like him. Sheesh. You're getting me all mixed up here." Bill huffed in annoyance before attempting to walk off.

" _Wait!_ " Tyrone shouted, grabbing ahold of Bill's arms before he could walk away. "Why did you kiss him?"

" _Hmm?_ "

"A few days ago, at that burger place, why did you kiss Dipper?"

". . .Oh yeah, I remember that. How's his lip doing by the way?" Bill asked casually, checking his nails while feigning disinterest.

Tyrone groaned. " _It's purple._ Now can you please answer my question?!" Bill scoffed back in reply, tugging his arm out of Tyrone's grip. "You're one of the mystery kids, figure it out yourself."

"What are you actually doing here?"

"Figure it out yourself, kid. I don't have time to deal with your repeat questions. Just stay outta my way, capeesh?"

". . . What if I don't? What if I don't stay out of your way?" Tyrone asked, a hint a nervousness seeping into his voice despite the anger he was trying to show. Sure, he could manage berating Bill with questions, but to actually stand up to him like this? Tyrone felt like he was pushing the boundaries of his comfort zone, let alone the boundaries of Bill's temper.

Bill stood with a lukewarm smile, blowing air through his lips before letting out a small laugh. "Yeah, right. I'd sooner believe that Shooting Star would give up sugar before I believed that you would stop me."

Tyrone sucked in air and bit the inside of his cheek. He couldn't believe he was about to say what he was going to say.

". . . Oh yeah? _Try me_." He stated as boldly as he possibly could, nervously staring up at Bill as he waited for a response.

He did _not_ like the response.

Bill's nose crinkled at the tone of Tyrone's voice, and his one visible eye appeared to glow a faint red before darting back to look at Tyrone in malice.

Tyrone could feel his heartbeat in his throat, and tear jerking regret pool in his chest.

Bill seemed to be weighing his options as he glared, deciding carefully on which words he wanted to use, and holding himself back from any sort of impulsive actions.

". . . I don't appreciate your tone, kid." Bill stated before continuing on his original walk out of the isle.

As Bill walked out one end of the isle, Dipper entered through the other, making his way up to Tyrone with an armful of colorful fabrics.

"Hey man, I got the colored fabric, but I have no idea where the- hey, are you alright?" Dipper asked, looking at his brother in concern. He looked as if he was either going to cry or throw up.

"Yeah, i'm fine." Tyrone stated, trying to cover his red face with his hand. "Lets just, uh, ask an employee or something." With that, he snatched the bottle of glitter that Bill recommended, and made his way over to the counter, leaving Dipper with no choice but to follow behind him.

The two located the rest of their supplies, payed, and went on their way to do the rest of their Christmas shopping. As they walked, Dipper continued to steal occasional glances of Tyrone, growing a little more concerned for him each time.

" . . . Hey man, are you sure you're alright? You've been kind of, _off_ , since we left that craft store." Dipper asked. Tyrone bit his lip in reply. "I uh. . . bumped into Bill in there when you were gone." Tyrone admitted.

" _What!?_ " Dipper shouted, looking over at his twin in concern. " _What did he do?_ "

"Nothing! Nothing! He just put his arms on me, thats all!" Tyrone admitted quickly, deciding to leave out the dispute that just took place. "He- he thought I was you, Dipper." Dipper studied Tyrone's face for a moment. His shoulders lowered and put his face in his hand, pinching the bridge of his nose before dragging his hand down to his mouth, recoiling it the moment he applied pressure to his lip. "God, just. . . uhg. Tyrone, I-"

"I think he likes you."

"What!?"

"I think Bill _likes_ you, Dipper." Tyrone repeated.

"Me and Mabel were talking it over last night. We think he likes you. Like, _likes_ _you_ likes you, in some sort of weird, demonic, following-you-everywhere kind of way."

Dipper stared back at Tyrone with an almost starstruck expression before his eyebrows furrowed. "Look, Tyrone-"

"I mean, I really, _really_ , **_really_ ** want it to be something else-"

"Ty-"

"but I kept asking him and he _wouldn't_ tell me and-"

" _TY_ -"

"everything else that happened this week-"

" ** _TYRONE!_ ** "

Tyrone shut his mouth, staring back at his brother in surprise.

Dipper sighed, running a hand over his face again. "Tyrone, Bill _doesn't_ like me like that. He's a demon. I don't even know if demons are _capable_ of something like that! As far as we know, Bill is _literally_ insane."

"But why else would he kiss you then?!" Tyrone asked, his voice raising in defense.

" _I don't know!_ Maybe it's part of some sort of 'big plan' to get the journal or _kill_ us?!"

"What would _kissing you_ have to do with any of that!?"

"I don't know! But I know that it _doesn't_ mean he likes me. If Bill's planning anything, it's _not_ that." Dipper stated firmly, making his way past Tyrone and walking to the next store.

Tyrone stared at Dipper for a moment before sighing, running to catch up with his brother and brainstorm ways to get his twin to stop being mad at him. 


	6. Frustration and Glitter

Well, Dipper was still upset with him.

He refused to talk about the situation, and made it clear that he didn't care what the heck Bill was up to. He just wanted to end the conversation and forget about the whole thing until Bill actually showed himself to be a threat. He didn't like the idea of Bill _liking_ him, and it made him uneasy enough to the point where he didn't even want to investigate what Bill might really be up to.

Tyrone had no choice but to oblige, and agreed to stop bringing up the topic.

In the end, the rest of their shopping trip turned out to be very quiet and awkward, and the two of them both became slightly paranoid that Bill would pop up in any store they set foot in. They quietly purchased the last of their things and made their way out of the building, driving home and beginning work on their Christmas gift for Mabel. 

There was no choice for them but to get it all done tonight, since this the only time Mabel wouldn't be at home before Christmas. They sat up in their bedroom with supplies littered on the floor, a sweater spread between them, and glitter stuck to their fingertips. They were both slightly thankful that the sweater was keeping them busy, because neither of them really knew how to start up a new conversation after the last one they just had.

This whole Bill thing was really stressing them out, and unfortunately, it seemed to be taking a toll on the sweater.

It was a mess. The letters weren't lined up correctly, the lines of glitter had large blobs at random points, and the stitching on the fabric decorations were too tight, and looked half-assed at best.

Dipper let out a sharp exhale through his nose, accidentally biting his lip in frustration at his messy stitch work. "Ahh, ow ow ow."

Tyrone frowned and quickly offered to get Dipper an ice pack. Dipper accepted the offer and Tyrone made his way downstairs to get his brother some ice. 

Dipper brushed his finger along the edge of his lip, inspecting it for any broken skin or blood, and luckily, there wasn't any. He sighed and listened to the sound of Tyrone's feet thumping up the stairs. His brother came in the door, handing over the ice pack to Dipper and earning a muttered "Thanks" for his task in return.

Dipper pressed the ice to his lip, and the two of them stared down at the sweater for what felt like minutes.

". . . It looks. . . well, ah. . . " Tyrone trailed off, unable to find the words he wanted to say.

"Awful? Messy? A wreck?" Dipper droned, dragging the thumb on his free hand across his pants leg, trying to wipe some glitter glue off.

Tyrone sighed and let his cheek fall onto his palm, allowing his head to be held up by his arm. "All of the above."

They sat in a few more seconds of silence before Tyrone spoke up, letting out a small, frustrated laugh. "This is ridiculous."

Dipper flicked his eyes up from his leg to his brother. "What is?"

" _This!_ " Tyrone exclaimed, waving his arms over the mess and themselves. "This whole thing is ridiculous! We're so stressed out over this whole mess that we're making a mess on something that's really important! This sweater," Trone said, stretching both arms out to point to the clothing. "it's crap! We can do a better job than this, I know it!"

Dipper stared at Tyrone for a moment before huffing, letting his arm fall to his lap with the other one, bring the ice pack along with it. "That's what I told you back at the store, to forget about the whole thing! We already went over this before, Ty!"

"Yeah, but we're still  _obviously_ not over it! Can we just, _relax_ or something?"

"Oh yeah, how do you suggest we do that?"

". . . "

". . . "

Tyrone got to his feet, stretching out his arms over his head and allowing his shoulders to pop. 

Dipper raised an eyebrow up at his brother. "What are you doing?"

" ** _We_** ," Tyrone corrected, grabbing Dipper's hand and pulling him to his feet "are taking a break. Come on, let's go watch that episode of ghost harassers you recorded last week. _Then_ we'll come back and work on the sweater, alright?" Tyrone asked, staring at his brother and hoping he'd comply.

Dipper sighed and pressed the ice back up to his lip, giving Tyrone something along the lines of a smile. "Alright, fine. We'll take a break. Just don't let me fall asleep because we _really_ need to get this done, and" Dipper yawned "i'm _exhausted_."

Tyrone smiled at his brother and let out a laugh. " _You_ , fall asleep during a _ghost show_? That's almost unheard of, Dipper Pines! I'm disappointed! Where's your enthusiasm!? Wasn't this supposed to be a _really_ great episode or something?" Tyrone asked, poking at Dipper's sides to get him to smile.

Dipper couldn't help but let out a laugh, pushing Tyrone's hands away with a grin. "I think you got some of that glue lodged in your head! And stop poking me, I hate that!" Dipper said, grin still on his face.

Tyrone practically beamed from ear to ear at his brother reaction, pulling his hands back and agreeing to keep in his own space as they walked down the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for 27 kudos! I'm really, really glad that my crappy fanfic is turning out a little better than I thought it would. :) I hope you guys are enjoying it, and thank you so much for reading!


	7. Gas Station Snacks

After numbing their minds with 2 and a half hours of T.V., the twins reluctantly dragged themselves upstairs to fix the mess they made on the sweater. Although they were dreading having to basically remove everything and start all over on it, the break they took did help. The T.V. helped detach the thoughts and problems from their heads, clear their minds and give them a clean slate to think on, all while putting them in a much better mood. They had a lot of work to do ahead of them, and it would more than likely take a few hours to get it all done. It was about 11 at night, and the twins aimed to be finished by about 1 or 2 in the morning so that they could get enough sleep before they had to go pick Mabel at 9 tomorrow morning.

They didn't get done until 4:30.

They twins were so exhausted that Dipper fell asleep in Tyrone's bed without realizing it wasn't his own, despite it being on the opposite side of the bedroom. Colorful fuzzies from the fabric were stuck on his fingertips, and he fell asleep clutching a can of sticky, glitter smeared soda in his hands, which was luckily empty. Tyrone didn't even make it to the bed, and instead crawled over to a blanket on the floor and fell asleep on that, glue matted in his hair from brushing his bangs from his face after working with the material.

The completed sweater sat on the floor during the night, drying from the glitter glue applied to it. The twins sleepily mumbled promises of wrapping the gift tomorrow before they left, and promptly fell asleep afterwards.

They woke up at the exact time they were supposed to pick Mabel up at.

A fourth alarm from Dipper's phone finally pulled the two from their deep slumber and threw them into a rush of getting changed and wrapping up the sweater, hiding it as quickly as possible.

Tyrone almost left the house without pants on. Thankfully, Dipper had enough sleep knocked out of him to realize this, and threw a pair of jeans at his brother, who sleepily pulled them on before they left the house. 

They got into the car and Dipper started it up. Tyrone sat in the backseat, and after being questioned about why he didn't sit shotgun, he stated that he wanted to rest, stretched his legs and took over the empty seats, resting his head against the car window and closing his eyes. Dipper would have laughed or smiled at his brother's state if he wasn't so envious of it. He wanted to lie down for a little longer too. He huffed and turned the heat on in the car. He would ask Tyrone to switch with him and drive home after they picked Mabel up. It was only fair. Dipper pulled out of the driveway and headed to the friend's house, rubbing the sleep from his eyes before he hit the road.

~ ~ ~

Mabel hugged her friend goodbye and waved as she walked down the driveway. Once her friend walked back inside, Mabel practically ran to the car, knocking on Dipper's window excitedly. Dipper gave her a weary smile and rolled down the window for her. "Yes Ma-"

"OhmygoshDipperIjusthadthebesttimeever!!" Mabel shouted, still obviously hyped up on whatever sugar she consumed at the party.

Dipper noticed the dark circles under her eyes and frowned lightly. "Did you sleep at _all_ last night?"

" _Nope!_ " She answered back, quick and excited. "HeyisTyherebecauseIwantedtoshowhim-" Dipper put a hand over her mouth before she could finish, nodding his head to the backseat. "He's in the back." Dipper said, turning around in his seat to talk to his brother. "Hey Ty, Mabe-" He stopped himself when he realized Tyrone had fallen asleep in the backseat. His head was tilted back against the window and his body was still stretched out over the other seats. He was snoring lightly with his arms resting on top of his stomach, occasionally moving his fingers or mumbling something under his breath.

Mabel stuck her head through the window to take a look at Tyrone, elbowing Dipper in the cheek as she practically entered the car. "Hey Ty!!! I wanna show you- o _Of!_ " Mabel groaned as Dipper pushed her back out the window, annoyance written all over his face. " _Mabel! "_ He said in a hushed voice. "He's asleep! We had a long night so could you just-" Mabel grabbed Dipper's hands off her shoulders, staring wide-eyed down at his fingertips. " _Oh my goooosh!_ Your fingers are so happy!" She remarked, taking note of the fuzzies stuck to his hands. "How did you do that?"

Dipper groaned in annoyance and pulled his hands back into the car. He loved his sister and could usually handle her when she got riled up on a sugar high, but he was just too tired to deal with this right now. He burnt himself out the night before on that art project, and he was dying to just to go home and lie on the couch for a few hours. 

"Mabel, why don't you just get in the backseat with Tyrone?" Dipper suggested, wanting to avoid having his sister in the passenger's seat in her current state.

"You got it bro-bro!" She responded, opening the car door and shoving her bags inside. She pushed Tyrone's legs off the seat. "Move over you big dummy dumb!"

Tyrone woke up for only a minute, mumbling a few incoherent sentences and putting his feet on the floor before slipping back into sleep again. Mabel tried to wake him up a time or two to talk to him, despite Dipper's constant remarks about leaving him alone.

Dipper ended up letting Tyrone sleep instead of asking him to drive, deciding he wanted to keep a bit of distant between him and Mabel until she calmed down or fell asleep.

~ ~ ~

Dipper pulled the car up next to a gas pump.

He had to stop for gas and a bathroom on the way home, and pulled over to a nearby gas station to do so.

He'd only be gone a minute, he told himself as he turned off the car, unbuckled himself and checked to make sure that Tyrone and Mabel were still asleep. They were. Dipper grinned a bit at seeing the two practically clinging to each other in their restful states of unconsciousness. Mabel had fallen asleep about 3 minutes into the ride, snoring alongside Tyrone in the backseat. Dipper let out a breath of relief once she was asleep, knowing that she'd be a lot less hyperactive once she woke up again. He stared at the two of them for a minute or two more before finally heading inside the building, a grin still slightly perking at his lips.

The door set off a _ding_ as he opened it, and the lights inside made his tired eyes ache and squint in order to adjust. He rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index as he walked over to the counter, letting out a sigh as he looked down to dig through his pocket for his wallet. "Paying for pump four."

"Sure thing, kid."

Dipper's heart skipped a beat.

 _Damn it_.

_Here we go **again**._

Dipper looked up to face the voice, and there stood Bill, standing behind the counter and wearing a bright blue collared short sleeved shirt, white pants and a name tag with dark gold rimming, spelling out the name "BILL" in bold, capitalized black print.

Blue. It was a weird color on him that took Dipper by surprise. Bill went out of his way to wear yellow or gold each time they ran into him. Why on Earth did Bill suddenly decide to change up his wardrobe?

Bill rested his elbows on the counter, setting his chin comfortably on top of his knuckles and staring at Dipper with a content, yet teasing smirk. "What the heck are you doing up this early, kid? Shouldn't you still be sleeping?"

Dipper didn't want to talk to Bill about the crappy sweater, late night, early morning, sleeping in, Mabel's sleepover or being stuck driving. He didn't want to talk to Bill at **_all_**. It annoyed him that Bill was here this early in the morning. It frustrated him that Bill was everywhere lately. It worried him that Bill mistook his brother for him. It bothered him that Bill _kissed_ him. It angered him that he didn't know what Bill wanted. And it confused him that Bill might want _him._

Dipper glared at Bill for a moment before digging through his wallet, setting the money on the counter and giving Bill a cold shoulder, ignoring his question and refusing to speak. Tiredness and anger evident on his face.

Bill cocked up an eyebrow at this, and after a moment of silence between the two, Bill grinned a bit.

"You're pretty adorable when you're upset, Pine Tree."

Dipper felt his face heat up again. He let a groan escape through clenched teeth, his eyebrows furrowing and upsetting his facial expression. "God, do you have to work _everywhere_ now!? Can't I walk into _one_ store without you being there!?" Dipper asked, obviously frustrated.

"Question one? Yes. Question two? No." 

"Can't you just go back to Gravity Falls and leave me aloO **ONe** _ **!!!**_ " Dipper's hands instantly flew up to cover his mouth as his voice began to crack. His face became flushed and sweaty as he stared at Bill, hoping to God that he didn't notice or care.

Bill's slowly growing grin followed uncontrollable laugher only aided in turning Dipper's face even darker.

"HAHAHA! - OH JEEZ! - HA! P-PINE TREE! YOUR _UNBELIEVABLE!!_ " Bill sputtered between laughs. Dipper had already run off to the men's restroom, fleeing the embarrassment and the echoing laughter that resounded from Bill and filled the small confinements of the building.

~ ~ ~

After Dipper finally calmed down, and did what he came in there to do in the first place, he exited the bathroom and walked out by the counter, where Bill stood, elbows on the counter, head on his knuckles, and an expectant and patient grin lacing his face, almost as if the whole situation had never occurred.

"Glad to see your back, Pine Tree!" He said chipperly. "I was getting worried you passed out in there. There sure was enough blood rushing into that big head of yours for it to happen!" Bill mocked, earning a glare from Dipper, which only made his insult worth while in the end.

Dipper gave Bill a cold look and made his way to the exit. His hands wrapped around the metal bars and pushed the door open, blowing a puff of cold winter air and the scent of snow into his face, sweeping his hair across his forehead revealing parts of his birthmark.

"Wait, kid!" Bill shouted, a slight sound of desperation finding it's way into his voice. Bill silently cursed at himself for that blunder. However, he did earn a confused, almost surprised look from Dipper, who turned half way around to face Bill, still holding the door open. Chilled, weather scented air swept over his body and continued to disrupt the position of his brunet hair and starless sky colored jacket. His cheeks were still slightly flushed red from embarrassment, and the look of confusion on his face at the moment was. . . cute. The sight nearly caused Bill a lump in his throat, but he regained his posture, and with a reassuring cough, he spoke, though he spoke a little calmer this time.

"Please, kid, you uh . . . well. . . are you hungry?" Bill asked. Dipper just stood there, staring at Bill questioningly.

"Please, help yourself to whatever you want, kid! It's on me!" Bill said, his grin and posture almost faltering again, but seeming determined to keep Dipper there a little while longer.

Dipper stayed silent for a moment. He _was_ hungry. They were in a rush to get up this morning, so he didn't have a chance to eat breakfast. He didn't want to trust Bill, but it wasn't like taking a few free snacks was going to kill him.

He stared at Bill for a minute, searching his face for anything mischievous or misleading. ". . . No funny business? Nothing's poisoned or enchanted or whatever?"

Bill seemed to relax a little, putting on a confident grin, puffing out his chest and tracing an 'x' over it with his index finger. "Cross my heart and hope to die, kid."

Dipper let out a huff and let go of the door, making his way into the aisles of snack foods that appealed to him. Bill waited until Dipper was in the aisles to let out a sigh of relief, running a hand over his face.

~ ~ ~

Dipper returned to the counter a few minutes later with two bottles of Dr.Pepper tucked under his arm, a can of Pitt-Cola in his hand, and a bag of Doritos, a Crunch candy bar, and a pack of Star-Bursts in the other, which earned him a raised eyebrow and a look of surprise from Bill.

"Yeesh, kid, I know I said to grab whatever you want, but-" Dipper cut him off.

"It's not all for me, Bill, and I might as well get what I can if you're offering." Dipper replied, setting all the items down on the counter. "So, is this alright?" Bill nodded. "Let me just get you a bag for all that. Wouldn't want you overworking your noodle arms." Dipper crossed his arms with a pouting glare, waiting as Bill pulled out a plastic bag and began to place the items inside, handing it back to Dipper when he was done.

Dipper took the bag and stood there for a moment, a heavy silence fell over them before Dipper spoke up.

"Um . . . well, thanks. I guess." Dipper said awkwardly, walking to the exit and placing his free hand on the bar once again, coming to a sudden stop when Bill shouted at him to hold up.

Dipper turned around to see Bill, holding something flat and blue-green in his hand. Bill grinned and shouted "Catch!", throwing the object over to Dipper, who stumbled to catch and get ahold of it. Once he did though, he looked down to find it was a Pine Tree car freshener, and Dipper didn't know whether to laugh or to throw it back at him. Before he could make his decision though, redness spread across his face as he felt pair of warm, firm lips press against his own, thin fingers gripping at his chin to force him into the kiss. It was the same as it the last kiss except, slower, and more gentle. The feeling faded, and Bill stood and grinned down at Dipper, his half-lidded eyes looking quite pleased with themselves. Bill quickly licked at his lips. "Drive safe, Pine Tree." And before Dipper could respond, Bill pushed him out the doors. The bell rung to signal a customer had taken their leave, and the doors shut accordingly afterwards with a soft click.


	8. Starbursts and Christmas Blues

Dipper stumbled backwards into the cold, staring at the now dark building that had just been lit with artificial light not even a second ago.

No one was inside. He tested the doors.

Locked.

Dipper's breath hitched in his throat, but whatever air that was able to escape past his violated lips died quickly in the cold, turning into ghostly white fog and dissolving in the air. He gently brought his shaking, bitterly cold finger tips up to his cheeks, which were still rosy and radiating warmth from the sudden act of forced affection on Bill's end.

There wasn't really any other options now since Bill was apparently gone. Dipper headed to the car and took his place in the driver's seat, placing the white, noisy bag next to him in the passenger's. He felt the cardboard tips of the air freshener pressing into his palm. He stared down at it, and immediately became aware of the heat engulfing his face again, only this time out of anger, although the lingering embarrassment still weighed heavily in his chest. He chucked the pine tree into the glove box and slammed its door shut with a loud click, earning a subtle groan from Tyrone, who shifted a bit into his discomfort. Dipper immediately bit his lip in guilt, not wanting to have woken up his sibling. Fortunately though, Tyrone seemed to have found a comfortable place against Mabel to again, who also had taken the chance to unconsciously change her position. Dipper sighed, running a hand over his birthmark and turning the keys in the ignition. He was feeling shaken up, so he laid back in his seat for a moment to regain his calm and let his mind wander for a few minutes.

Again, why the hell did Bill keep doing this? Bill didn't like him, Dipper sternly told himself. He might have kissed him once, and then just kissed him _again_ , him but Bill _didn't_ like him. Not like that. Dipper didn't get why Bill was doing what he was doing, but he know one thing.

Bill was doing a messy job at it.

Each one of his appearances, actions and the things he said didn't seem to be very planned out or organized, which was unusual considering how smooth Bill was at making deals and lying. Bill was very clever, manipulative and dangerous back at Gravity Falls, but now he seemed to be rushing things, getting upset at himself and sounding desperate. Dipper tried to reason out what in the world was going on with the demon. Something must have happened into order to get Bill to act like this, either that, or Bill was _struggling_ to do whatever he was trying to do.

It was weird. This whole thing was weird. It didn't seem like Bill had some big, world destroying plan in mind at the moment. If he did, working at countless deadbeat jobs didn't seem like it was going to get him very far in it.

Bill wasn't actually doing this for his own personal reasons, was he?

Dipper remembered Bill saying something about 'taking matters into his own hands' because he and his siblings were going off to college in a few years. Maybe things were just going to be boring for the demon once the kids left. Did he want to keep them there? Why in the world would he want to do that? I mean, spending all that time in the Mindscape would probably get a little tiresome. Lonely. Boring.

Gah! This was Bill he was talking about here! Absolutely insane, crazy, dream demon who tried to hurt and nearly _kill_ his family and him on more than one occasion! Who cares if he got bored in that little messed up, monochrome world of his. He didn't want him here!

Mumbled sleep talking brought Dipper out of his thoughts. It was Mabel, mumbling gibberish in her sleep. He could've sworn that he heard her say something about Pacifica, which surprised him a bit. Mabel usually only slept talk after eating a crap load of sugar and then passing out, which _did_ happen last night. Maybe it was giving her some sort of messed up dream or something.

He frowned as he turned around in his seat to look at her. She looked a pretty upset. Her fingers were tightly wrapped around the sleeve of Tyrones coat, her index finger occasionally faintly moving to brush or tap against it. He saw her jaw tighten and slide a bit, which made Dipper's eye widen a little in concern. Mabel had loads of teeth problems in the past, and along with her braces and a few cavities, grinding her teeth in her sleep was one of them. Although she usually only seemed to do it when she had bad dreams, something they'd figured out after multiple occasions of her complaining about jaw or tooth pain after a nightmare.

Dipper reached back, gently placing his hand onto Mabel's knee and giving it a small shake. Speaking her name in the softest tone he could.

"Mabel. . . . Hey Mabel, you alright?"

Mabel groggily opened her eyes, shifting to lift her hand up and rub them. "Dipper?" She yawned and lowered her shoulders. "Are we home yet?"

"No, not yet." Dipper said, making his body comfortable in it's new position. "Hey, were you having a nightmare?" He asked as gently as possible. Mabel blinked again, seeming to gain a little more consciousness than before.

"I um . . . nooo?" She lied.

Dipper exhaled and gave her a sympathetic smile, patting the passenger's seat next to him. Mabel took note of it and stepped out of the car, making her way around to the front. Dipper moved the plastic bag into the backseat, trying to do so as silently as possible not to wake Tyrone. Luckily, he was still out cold.

Mabel opened up the car door and took a seat, strapping on her seatbelt, even though the car was still parked, just out of a force of habit. Dipper grinned a little bit at this, but quickly reverted his attention back to his sister's problem. He stared at Mabel for a bit, who seemed to be interested in the car floor at the moment, kicking around a few crumbs that sat on the rug.

"Alright, what's up?" Dipper asked.

Mabel exhaled and turned to look out her window, resting an elbow on the door and her chin in her palm. Remaining silent for a few seconds before choosing to speak.

"Dipper, do you think i'm doing the right thing? Dating Pacifica long distance?" Mabel asked. Her voice sounding heavy with emotion and uncertainty.

"Are you still upset about the Christmas thing? Because I mean, you get to spend all New Years wit-" Mabel cut him off.

"That's not what I mean. I mean, do you think things are going to work out between us? Last time I had a long distance relationship, the guy ended up getting an arranged marriage to the Queen of the Manatees while he was gone."

"Mabel, your relationship with Pacifica isn't _anything_ like Mermando! For pete's sake, he was half _fish_!" Dipper interjected. 

"But every single one of my past relationships went to crud in the end. Everyone single one of them left me, nothing worked out, and it's just . . . it's just hard to believe in something you keep failing at." She said, returning her gaze back to the crumb covered floor, drawing a bit of her bottom lip into her mouth.

Dipper stared at her for a minute. He wasn't really sure what to say, or what type of advice to give her. It killed him to see her like this, but Mabel needed romance advice, and the last person Dipper had a crush on, _a certain red-head_ , well, didn't exactly work out well.

He rested it on her back, gently soothing her as he thought of something to say.

" . . . All of this doubt coming from the girl who managed to become the best matchmaker in Gravity Falls?" Dipper asked, recalling the relationship she sparked between Robbie and Tambry at the Woodstock Festival a couple summers ago, which was still going strong at the moment.

This earned a bit of a smile from Mabel, which encouraged Dipper to keep going with his speech.

"I mean, come on, you're _Mabel Pine_ s. The artist, crafts maker, glitter abuser, sweater enthusiast, mini golf champion, best sister in the world, _Mabel Pines_. And not a _single_ one of those relationships were your fault! Those people were either insane lunatics, weird magical creatures or both! Those don't count, right? You didn't fail at anything, Mabel. And the relationship you have with Pacifica right now, I mean, it's . . . it's good. Sure, you can't see each other all the time, but the fact that she trying to keep it going too should show you that- it's- I mean- You both care about each other, so-"

Mabel cut him off with a tight hug. Wrapping her arms around Dipper's shoulders and burying her face into his shirt, mumbling her gratitude into the fabric. Dipper smiled, feeling a little proud himself that he seemed to have picked the right thing to say, but mostly relieved that his sibling was feeling much better about the whole thing. He hugged her and patted her back, mumbling a soft "pat, pat" as he did so. They both eventually released their grips on each other, taking a moment to simply smile at eachother.

"Hey, you hungry?" Dipper asked, reaching into the back seat, grabbing the bag again and handing it over to Mabel, whose eyes lit up as she scanned over the contents, grabbing the one she wanted, that being the pack of starbursts.

She looked back up at her brother once more, giving him another grateful smile and a "Thanks, Dip-Dop" before turning around in her seat, unwrapping the candy and picking out all the pink ones first. Dipper smiled at her and put the car in reverse, beginning their drive back home.

Tyrone laid in the backseat, half-lidded and tired eyes looking out the window and watching as the buildings went by. He knew he had no right or reason to feel jealous or upset, but he couldn't help but bite back the overwhelming emotions welling up in his chest. It just made him feel like crap watching from the backseat as his siblings had a deep conversation. It wasn't fair of him to be jealous, and it wasn't right because the twins deserved to get a conversation to themselves every now and them, but Tyrone couldn't stop thinking about their relationship whenever it happened. How good friends they were, how close they were, how they always did that 'pat pat' thing with each other when they hugged. It was wrong for him to be upset, but he couldn't help it. 

He closed his eyes and pretended to still be asleep until they got home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanna thank you guys really quickly for the kudos and comments! I can't even tell you how ecstatic it makes me knowing that people are happy reading the story, so thank you so much! :)
> 
> Also, a really nice person named 'dirksnipples' drew a picture of Tyrone from this fanfic, and it's really, really cute! :)  
> Go check it out if you want to! Their art style is absolutely adorable!  
> Here's the link if you're intereseted : http://terminallytaurus1.tumblr.com/post/123260511191/i-was-reading-snow-capped-pine-trees-by


	9. Trigonometry

Bill plopped down on the couch and shut his eyes.

He hated how easily exhausted this body could get. He thought he'd never have to go through this type of feeling again after the whole sock puppet incident a few years back.

But here he was. In a flesh body. Exhausted and chasing after some _kid_ who was somehow capable of messing with minds better than he could.

. . . Well, he wouldn't go _that_ far. But the kid was seriously messing with him, and he wasn't even _trying_ to! It was ridiculous and confusing and Bill hated it. But he went with whatever instincts he had and followed the boy around, hoping that he would end up doing _something_ that would resolve this little problem he had.

He basically had no idea what he was doing or why he was doing it.

What was he _supposed_ to be doing anyways?

This was all new to him. He'd never experienced this type of immense human feeling before and he didn't exactly know what to do with it.

He hated how the kid could make his heart and head go nuts every time he saw him. He didn't get it, he didn't want to get it, he just wanted it to be over with. He decided to follow the kid around and just go with this whole " _liking him_  " thing. He tried doing the things humans did in these situations, and he tried a couple of times, but each time he tried he didn't seem to be doing it exactly right.

But that kid's _laugh_.

That kid's _smile_.

That kid's curiosity, insecurities, smarts, his birthmark, his voice, his, well, _everything_.

Bill pressed a hand down over his face to cover up it's redness.

He was going to do _something_ about it. He just didn't know _what_.

He just sort of walked into this expecting it to be fairly simple. But it wasn't simple, at all. It was complicated as all hell.

He never had this type of problem before. He could walk into a situation without a plan and ease his way through it in order to get what he wanted. Manipulation and quick ideas came natural to him when he needed it. But with _this_ situation? Nothing good came to him. He thought of a few things here and there but they never seemed to work out well in the end, and in the end he just decided that kissing the kid would work best. I mean, isn't that the way it happened in movies anyways? Just a kiss or some show of affection and the person should be wrapped around your finger, right? So what the hell was he doing wrong? The kid just seemed pissed off at him, that's it.

Understanding, manipulating and twisting emotions was something he was used to. He could do it and he could do it well, but with _affection?_ Sure, he understood it and could do wonders with it when messing with a person, but having a hands on experience with actually _feeling_ it? It was a whole new ballgame that messed up his way of thinking and gave him and blank page when he needed a plan, an answer, _something_ to be able to handle it right.

He turned to few of the human magazines to help. They looked informational, and seemed to be talking about exactly what he wanted to know. He had about ten of them sitting out on the table at the moment. He read through all of them and still didn't seem to know what exactly he was doing. He did exactly what it they all said to do though.

_'Find common ground between you and your crush!'_

We've both got human bodies now, that's common ground.

_'Spend time at places that your crush likes to hang out at!'_

Countless odds and ends jobs allowed Bill to see Dipper whenever he left the house.

_'Change up your wardrobe to get your crush's attention!'_

He tried on a blue shirt today. Didn't seem like the kid could care any less about it.

_'Be kind! Give them random little gifts to show you care!'_

He got the kid a candy candy and an air freshener.

_'Give them hints that you like them!'_

Tried it. Touched the kid's hand back at the burger joint.

_'When all else fails, just be honest and kiss them! Tell them how you feel and see what happens! The worst thing that could happen is you get rejected.'_

Tried it. Got _'rejected'._

So what now?

. . . . .

Bill sat in silence in the confinements of the apartment room. He realized that he'd actually have to think this one over. He needed a plan. He needed to actually understand what he was trying to do, because he didn't exactly know himself. Even if he could manage to sweep the kid off his feet, then what? What would he do after that? Would he even want to do anything after that? **_What did he even want anyways!?!_**

Bill kicked the table abruptly, causing it to tip and fall onto it's side with a booming thud, spilling the magazines all over floor. His foot was in pain but even that couldn't get him to break a smile or ease up. He was frustrated. He wanted the kid but he didn't _want_ to want the kid. He groaned and rubbed his eyes with his palms. His head felt dizzy and the back of his eyes hurt. He assumed that this was what a headache was. He hated it. He hated everything at the moment.

He let out a deep exhale and let his hands fall to his lap, turning his head in the direction of the apartment's balcony, staring at the shapes of other apartments and the cars parked all around them. He looked up at the stars that we're beginning to twinkle through the pink and blue colors of the sky, which suddenly gave him an idea.

'Well, there is _one_ person who might get this better than I do.' Bill thought, leaving his human body in exchange for his natural one, entering the Mindscape to check on the person he had in mind.


End file.
